1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print processing system configured by connecting, via a network, an information processing apparatus which generates print data, and an image input/output apparatus which receives the print data and executes print processing. The present invention also relates to an information processing apparatus and image forming apparatus which configure the print processing system, a control method therefor, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a printer driver installed in a host computer has a mechanism of acquiring paper type information registered in a printer from the printer via a network, and designating a paper type as a paper selection method. Paper type information of standard paper types (e.g., plain paper, thick paper, and OHP: called Type 1) can be exchanged between a device (printer) and a printer driver using a fixed ID value (paper type ID value) (Japanese Patent No. 3703376).
The setting values of a Windows®-compliant printer driver are defined by a fixed-size data structure called DEVMODE. An application on a host computer uploads printer driver setting values from a printer driver by the DEVMODE structure. When executing printing, the application transfers printer driver setting values to the printer driver by the DEVMODE structure to designate printer driver settings. The paper type is also defined as a DEVMODE member value, and a paper type ID defined as a specified paper type is used as a setting value.
These days, a Type 2 paper method has been proposed. According to this method, special paper type information (name “character string”, shape, surface property, and grammage) is defined based on a specified paper type. An ID number is added to the special paper type information, and then the special paper type information is registered in a device. In a conventional print system, paper types are limited to specified ones. However, the Type 2 paper method allows the user to print with various paper types by designating Type 2 paper on a device and registering it as paper type information.
To display and select detailed information of paper type information (Type 2) on a printer driver UI, paper type information (name “character string”, shape, surface property, grammage, and the like corresponding to a paper type ID) needs to be acquired from a printer.
Type 2 paper type information has a variable size larger than a Type 1 fixed ID value. However, the size of the DEVMODE for storing setting values must be fixed. An excessive increase in size of the DEVMODE decreases the processing speed of an application and makes the system unstable. Thus, no DEVMODE can ensure an excessively large size.
From this, as for Type 2 paper, a method of registering only a paper type ID value in the DEVMODE, similar to Type 1 paper, has been examined and practiced.
When an application designates a paper type ID in the DEVMODE, the printer driver generates a print instruction including the paper type ID value, and transmits it to the printer. When the paper type ID value included in the received print instruction represents Type 2, the printer refers to detailed paper type information registered in paper type information in the printer. From this information, the printer can recognize the designated paper type and execute print processing using the designated paper type.
As described above, some applications save a DEVMODE in data generated by them, and transfer data including the DEVMODE to a printer driver in printing, thereby designating print settings used to generate data. However, when the DEVMODE stores the paper type ID of a paper type (Type 2) created by a device, the following problem arises. This will be explained in detail with reference to FIG. 18.
Paper type information 701 is registered in a printer 702. In the paper type information 701, a plurality of Type 2 sheets are set. Upon receiving a request from the printer driver of a PC 703, the printer 702 transmits the paper type information 701 to the printer driver of the PC 703.
The paper type information received from the printer is displayed on the setup UI of the printer driver of the PC 703 to prompt the user to select a paper type as a print setting value. The selected print setting value is saved in a DEVMODE included in application data 704. In this example, the user selects the paper type ID=3 (paper name: thick paper A, surface property: recycled paper, shape: normal, grammage: 200) as a paper selection method among print setting values.
A case where the printer 702 prints the application data 704 will be explained.
The printer driver of the PC 703 generates a print instruction (PDL command) including a paper type designation instruction (ID=3) from the paper type ID=3 set in the DEVMODE in the application data 704 received from the application. The printer driver transmits the generated print instruction to the printer 702.
The printer 702 refers to the paper type information 701 in the paper type designation instruction included in the print instruction. In this case, paper type information of the paper type ID=3 exists in the paper type information 701. The printer 702 can execute print processing complying with the paper type information of the paper type ID=3 (normal processing system).
However, the following problem arises if the generated application data 704 is printed by a printer 706 in which the configuration of paper type information has changed (updated) from one used to generate the application data 704.
Similar to the normal processing system, a printer driver in a PC 705 transmits a print instruction including a paper type designation instruction of the paper type ID=3 to the printer 706. The contents of paper type information 707 in the printer 706 have been updated, so the paper type ID=3 does not exist in the paper type information 707.
In this state, the printer 706 cannot perform proper processing complying with the paper type because the paper type information of the paper type ID=3 does not exist in the paper type information 707. For example, for paper having the paper type ID=3 and a grammage corresponding to thick paper, the printer needs to operate at a fixing temperature higher than that for plain paper. However, no necessary information exists, so the paper is changed to plain paper to print.
If paper type information of the paper type ID=3 exists in the paper type information 707, but a value different from that used to generate the application data 704 is set in printing, a trouble which may adversely affect the printer engine of the printer 706 may also occur. As an example of this trouble, the printer engine tries to perform double-sided printing with a paper type incapable of double-sided printing.